Restoring Baird's Image

John Logie Baird, Britain's foremost television pioneer, experimented with video recording onto gramophone discs in the late 1920s. Though unsuccessful at the time, his experiments resulted in several videodiscs, some 25 years before the videotape recorder became practical. These videodiscs - called Phonovision - remained neglected over the decades, considered by experts as unplayable. In the early 1980s, the author sought out and restored the surviving Phonovision discs. Using computer-based techniques in an investigation reminiscent of an archaeological dig, the author has not only revealed the images on the discs but also uncovered details of how the recordings were made. The Phonovision discs have now become recognised as one of Baird's most important legacies. In 1996 and 1998, amateur 'off-air' recordings of the BBC's 30-line Television Service (1932-35) were found, giving us our first view of what viewers were then watching. The author's restoration overturns established views on mechanically scanned television, providing us today with a true measure of Britain's heritage of television programme-making before electronic television. As well as helping to explain a poorly understood and complex period in television's history, this unique book, heavily illustrated with previously unpublished or rarely-seen historic photographs restored by the author, sheds light on the achievements of Baird, the development of video recording and the definition and invention of television itself.

'a fascinating read. The book goes a long way to help the reader appreciate the significance of these recordings and the era in which they were made. A TV historian's delight providing a refreshing 'new look' history in both words and pictures.', 'the author's passion for his subject and scholarship shine clearly through, making this the most authoritative book on Baird's work yet published, this is an excellent book that is unlikely to be equalled', 'provides a unique and thoroughly unexpected glimpse at how television looked in its paleolithic era.', 'Scholarly research and 'can't put it down' writing are rare companions. Don Mclean has succeeded magnificently in conveying the excitement of unearthing and restoring recordings Baird's 30 line TV pictures.', 'As the title suggests, this book deals largely with the retrieval and restoration of Baird's 30-line television pictures recorded on shellac and aluminium discs over the period 1927-35. Many authors writing about the history of television are faced with the difficulty of finding something new and prefer not to quote too often from earlier accounts written by other people. Donald McLean manages to avoid most of these problems since he is in the unique position of being able to describe a form of television archaeology never attempted before. Written in a conversational style, this book covers a considerable amount of new ground. It is copiously illustrated and 40 of the photographs have never been published previously. The flavour of the infant years of television is captured most successfully and the book represents essential reading for everybody with an interest in those days.'

Donald F. McLean CEng FIEE is European Director of a consulting practice in a multi-national professional services company. His professional career started in R&D but after several years the attraction of management made him move into the professional services sector. It is in his spare time that he has been pursuing his interests in restoring the earliest-known recordings of television and in communicating through the media these dramatic findings.